Our Vision

The Torch Academy Gateway Trust is committed to securing high levels of achievement for all students in our schools, regardless
of their background. We believe that all young people can and should succeed in school. We are driven by a strong moral purpose
to ensure the very best outcomes for our students, in order to improve their life opportunities and enable them to live fulfilled lives.

Welcome

An Inclusive Multi-Academy Trust

The Torch Academy Gateway Trust is a dynamic and growing Multi Academy Trust based in the East Midlands.
Our Trust is committed to providing high quality education to all of our students, regardless of their backgrounds.

Our track record demonstrates our ability to deliver our core goal, achievement for every child.
The schools in our portfolio includes both secondary and primaries, working in a range of contexts.
We also run a successful School Centred Initial Teacher Training programme and a Teaching School Alliance which links 23
schools together sharing effective practice and developing new models for staff development.

News

NUAST has partnered with Ideas4Careers to offer students in Year 11, 12 and 13 the opportunity to receive independent careers guidance. Students will be able to access one to one support and will be given a future career/training profile along with specific advise about the next steps in employment and education. Students, last year found the service invaluable and we are pleased to work with Ideas4Careers again this year.

The advisor from Ideas4Careers will also attend Year 11 parents evening to meet parents and answer questions that they may have.

On Wednesday 7th December 2016 13 students visited Waterstones in Nottingham with Ms Marris and Miss Ackerley. They were treated to a book up to the value of £10.00 and a Hot Chocolate from Costa Cafe in the shop. Students enjoyed a browse, books chosen included:

Desolation by Derek Landy (chosen by Owen Greensmith)

THE EPIC NEW THRILLER CONTINUES.

Book two in the mind-blowing new supernatural thriller from bestselling author DEREK LANDY, creator of international sensation Skulduggery Pleasant.

Reeling from their bloody encounter in New York City at the end of Demon Road, Amber and Milo flee north. On their trail are the Hounds of Hell – five demonic bikers who will stop at nothing to drag their quarries back to their unholy master.

Amber and Milo’s only hope lies within Desolation Hill – a small town with a big secret; a town with a darkness to it, where evil seeps through the very floorboards. Until, on one night every year, it spills over onto the streets and all hell breaks loose.

And that night is coming…

Life and Death by Stephanie Meyers (chosen by Ashleigh-Jessica Martin)

There are two sides to every story...

For the first time in a stand-alone paperback comes Stephenie Meyer's Life and Death, a compelling reimagining of the iconic Twilight love story that will surprise and enthrall readers. When Beaufort Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic. What Beau doesn't realize is the closer he gets to her, the more he is putting himself and those around him at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back....

With a foreword and afterword by Stephenie Meyer, author of the new adult book The Chemist, this reimagining is a must-read for Twilight fans everywhere.

Girl Online: Going Solo by Zoe Sugg (chosen by Holly Clarke)

Penny's life is back to normal.

As Penny starts the school year she's ready to face the world - alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when she accepts Megan's invitation to visit her performing arts school it seems like an opportunity to make some new friends.

Helping everyone else seems to be the right remedy. Elliot needs her friendship more than ever, and she meets Posey - struggling with stage fright and in need of support. But is charming Scottish boy Callum the right kind of distraction? And can Penny truly move on when Noah's shadow seems to haunt her round every corner?

Yesterday saw us being visited by two Notts County FC footballers to assist with a project to engage some of our weaker y8 boys with their reading. They were reading The Kick-Off by Dan Freedman and as you can see from the attached photos the students (and the players) were really focused and did plenty of reading!!

If you see any of the following students around the Academy today please give them a well done as they were absolutely superb all afternoon.

Here is the Nusa Sign Choir. Some of the girls have only been signing for a matter of weeks.

They performed ‘Yes I Can’ (the Paralympics anthem 2016) in the end of term assemblies in October.
Well done to Dominika, Regan, Storm, Kelcie, Gargi, Sara, Kacey-Leigh, Hollie, Courtney and Natasha. And thank you to Sheldon for doing the lighting and sound.

They are also performing at the Bilborough Christmas Festival on Thursday 8th December.

The following students showed two extremely experienced professional athletes their; attitude, enthusiasm, maturity and dedication throughout the Sky Sports event today. Our guests were extremely pleased with our students.

The day began at 10am with the customers of ASDA being very generous on the morning shift. The flow was steady through the tills and the girls were packing bags throughout. Mrs Hamilton-Smith and Mrs Brown were also helping to bag shopping throughout the morning.

The second session of the day saw even more through the tills and the buckets were filling nicely, again the generosity shone through. At 2pm, readyf for the last 2 hours of the bag packing, 6 more girls and Mrs Vause came along to help undertake the challenge and to try and get a few more coins into the buckets.

A fantastic total of £496.80 was raised throughout the day. Then on our return to school this week we were delighted to hear that a local company had kindly donated a further £100 to our fund.

Well done and thank you to all who helped. The money will go towards the tour kit and school netball kit.

Our Trust

Meet Our Team

John Tomasevic

Trust DirectorCEO Torch Academy Gateway Trust

John is a National Leader of Education and serves on the DfE Headteacher Reference Group. He led Toot Hill School from a 'satisfactory' Ofsted judgment in 2004, to 'good' in 2008 and 'outstanding' in 2011.

He has also led a number of wider networks, including Nottinghamshire's 'Good to Outstanding' network. John provides the strategic lead for the TAG Trust and is Executive Headteacher at NUAST and NUSA.

John Mills

Chair Torch Academy Gateway Trust Board of Directors

John became Nottingham University's eighth President of Council in January 2012 and is also a Pro-Chancellor. He has been a member of Council since 2005 and was Treasurer of the University of Nottingham from 2008 to 2011. As President of the Council he chairs Nominations Committee and the Remuneration Committee. He is also a member of Finance Committee. A mathematics graduate of the University of Nottingham he trained as a Chartered Accountant with Kidsons before joining Deloitte Haskins and Sells to specialise in tax, becoming a member of the Chartered Institute of Tax.

He became a partner in the firm which, following two mergers, became PricewaterhouseCoopers. John retired from the firm in 2005 having run part of the regional and national businesses. He is now Deputy Chairman of Matalan having been Chairman for six years and a Director of a number of private companies and Chair of Directors for the Torch Academy Gateway Trust.

David Hooker

David is currently Executive Principal at Djanogly City Academy where in 2015 the school secured itâ€™s best ever results. In 2015 the Academy moved out of special measures under Davidâ€™s leadership and is continuing to develop and improve.

Prior to his role at Djanogly, David led Meden School in Market Warsop out of special measures, securing an OFSTED â€˜Goodâ€™ rating in 2014. He was previously Deputy Head at Toot Hill School. David specialises in school improvement, curriculum development, appraisal and the use of data to drive improvement.

Ashfaq Rahman

Ashfaq is currently Executive Head Teacher with responsibility for Toot Hill School and Newark Academy. Ashfaq became Head of School at Toot Hill School in 2012 and under his leadership the school has secured excellent examination results that have placed it amongst the highest preforming secondary schools in the East Midlands. In 2016, 84% of students secured English and Maths (Basic) and the school achieved a progress 8 figure of 0.3.

Ashfaq is now developing a Trust wide approach to securing high achievement and working closely with all Heads of School. He has recently applied to become an Ofsted lead inspector and a National Leader of Education. He has vast experience in governance and working collaboratively with other local schools and trusts.

Previously, as Deputy Headteacher at Toot Hill School, Ashfaq led the achievement agenda. He also specialises in personalised learning, tracking and the use of data, school improvement and school standards.

Christopher James

Christopher James joined the Trust in 2015. He is currently Executive Headteacher at Meden School in Market Warsop and is also responsible for developing the quality of teaching across the trust. This includes the CPD Programme, shared curriculum provision and training institutions.

As Executive Head teacher at Alfreton Grange from 2015, Christopher made a significant impact in transforming the school. Progress 8 in 2015 was -0.87 and this rose to +0.05 in 2016. Previously Christopher was Headteacher of Garibaldi College in Mansfield which he led from satisfactory to Ofsted Good within 9 months and improved results dramatically from 46% of students achieving 5+ A*-C including English and Maths in 2011 to 70% in 2014. This put Garibaldi College in the top 5% of all schools in the country in terms of progress.

Christopher specialises in rebuilding schools that are in special measures and developing confidence and creativity in schools that are classed as â€˜coasting.â€™

Helen Duffy

Primary Executive Headteacher: Birklands Primary and Victoria Primary

Helen Duffy became part of the Trust Executive team in 2015. She is responsible for Birklands Primary School in Market Warsop and Victoria Primary School in the Meadows area of Nottingham. IN 2016 Birklands Primary secured its best ever KS1 and KS2 outcomes securing 65% in R/W/M at Key Stage 2 with a progress score for maths in the top 20% of schools nationally.

Previously Helen lead Sherwood Primary School in Market Warsop and took the school from 'Satisfactory' in 2011 to a secure 'Good' in 2014. Whilst there she was also responsible for leading on assessment and teaching and learning. Helen has recently undertaken training in undertaking Pupil Premium reviews.

Our Values Outlined

Our values are central to developing a positive ethos throughout our group of schools. This approach
is focused on securing success for all our learners and providing them with the very best life opportunities.

We believe nothing is more important than making a difference to children.

We Promote:

Trust: All stakeholders work together to realise our vision

Integrity: All decisions are based on the best interests of our students

Mutual Respect: Ensuring a voice for all stakeholders

Empathy: Teaching should be well planned, varied and stimulating

Self Improvement: A commitment to supporting the development of our staff, students and wider community

Group Ethos

High expectations are essential to raising standards

Everyone can succeed

Barriers to learning must be challenged and overcome

Teaching should be well planned, varied and stimulating

Learning should be active, focussed and engaged

High standards of behaviour are expected at all times

Clear lines of accountability exist at all levels

Developing staff and students to engage in effective teaching and learning

Securing Success

Our vision is to build capacity for sustained improvement. There are a number of short term strategies
that can be initially used to enhance outcomes but it is out view that these need to be supplemented by a
process that transforms a school for long term improvement.

This work is centred on transforming a school using our 'Pillars of Success' improvement model.
Transformation is achieved through the combination of a number of changes and improvements to each of these
pillars within a school:

Schools in our Trust

Secondary Phase

Toot Hill School

Toot Hill in an 11-18 comprehensive school, serving 1800 students, located in Bingham, Notts.
Ofsted evaluated Toot Hill as 'outstanding' in December 2011 praising the school's examination
outcomes, curriculum, leadership, behaviour and pastoral systems. Toot Hill runs an extended
learning week and operates an innovative 'tiering' system to ensure appropriate stretch and
challenge for every child. Toot Hill is the founder school of the TAG Trust and the lead school
of the Torch Teaching School Alliance.

Meden School

Meden is an 11-18 comprehensive school of 900 students serving the former mining community of Market Warsop.
The TAG Trust formally sponsored Meden in 2012 and has overseen its rapid improvement. Meden was in the top 10
most improved schools nationally in 2012 and this improvement was maintained in 2013 leading to the school being awarded an OFSTED 'Good' rating in 2014.

Nottingham Free School

Nottingham Free School opened in September 2014, serving the Sherwood, Carrington, Mapperely and Mapperely Park areas
of Nottingham. The school delivers a distinctive offer, running an compulsory extended school day which provides both study
and enrichment opportunities for its students. Initially opening for just Year 7, the school now has 270 pupils and is oversubscribed in every year.

Newark Academy

Newark Academy is an 11-18 secondary school which joined the Trust in September 2016.
Since Newark Academy became part of the Trust we have introduced a new school leadership team who are making rapid and sustained improvements to every aspect of life in the school.
The school is housed in a new, purpose built facility which was opened in January 2016.

Primary Phase

Birklands School

Birklands joined the TAG Trust on 1st April 2014. It is a feeder primary school to Meden, serving children in Market Warsop.
In 2016 Birklands Primary secured its best ever KS1 and KS2 outcomes securing 65% in R/W/M at Key Stage 2 with a progress score for maths in the top 20%
of schools nationally. The Trust has invested heavily in improving both the education provision and learning environment at the school with a new
playground installed in 2016.

Victoria Primary

Victoria Primary School joined the Trust in September 2016. Replacing Riverside Primary School, Victoria serves the Meadows community with a 2 form entry.

Partnership Schools

NUSA

In November 2013 the TAG Trust entered into a long term partnership support agreement
with Nottingham University Samworth Academy. NUSA serves the Bilbourgh area Nottingham, with 800 students on roll. Located in
an iconic new building NUSA seeks to raise aspirations and secure high outcomes for students.
NUSA works innovatively with its sponsors, the University of Nottingham and the Samworth Trust.

Djanogly City Academy

In April 2014 the Torch Academy Gateway Trust entered into a long term support partnership with the Djanogly City
Academy. DCA is situated to the north of Nottingham and serves the communities of Forest Fields and Basford. The aim
of the partnership is to improve teaching and learning, ensuring that every pupil realises their full examination
potential and secures the very best start in life.

NUAST

From September 2014, TAGT will become educational partners at the Nottingham University Academy of Science
and Technology. Sponsored by The University of Nottingham and Sir Harry Djanogly, NUAST will provide GCSE, BTEC
and A Level qualifications in the sciences, computing and engineering.

Housed in a purpose built facility in Dunkirk and supported by local industry, NUAST will provide Nottingham
with a much needed specialist provision in academic and vocational education.

Nottinghamshire Torch TSA

An Inclusive Teaching School Alliance

The Nottinghamshire Torch Teaching School Alliance is a partnership of 22 multi-phase schools spread across the East Midlands, based at Toot Hill School,
Bingham, who all share a common goal of continuous school improvement through collaboration.

The prime aim of our teaching school alliance can be distilled into two key targets:

Improving the quality of teaching in the classroom

Raising levels of attainment and progress through all key stages

We warmly invite you to consider joining us to help shape the future of our profession and the lives of the children we serve. We are an open
and inclusive Teaching School Alliance welcoming schools from all phases. If you would like to find out more about the Torch Teaching
School Alliance use the contact form on this site or alternatively visit our website at www.torchtsa.co.uk.

Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT

Based at Toot Hill Bingham, Nottinghamshire, our SCITT offers school based Primary and Secondary Teacher training in a range of schools and subjects.

We offer School Centred Initial Teacher Training across a range of Nottinghamshire Schools in partnership with the University of Nottingham. This allows students to train in schools, through classroom based experience with the support of a school based mentor, securing a PGCE qualification at the end of the year.

We also provide School Direct placements in a range of schools in Nottinghamshire at both primary and secondary level.

Jobs and Recruitment

The TAG Trust offers an exciting and dynamic workplace environment. We believe that staff
make a difference to children and place staff development at the centre of our strategic planning.
All teaching staff are offered the opportunity to complete a funded Masters in Education programme,
in partnership with the University of Nottingham. Staff are offered regular training opportunities
and we run a series of 'in-house' training schemes to prepare staff for career progression at all
levels. The Torch Teaching School alliance offers the opportunity for wider professional networking
and opportunities to lead and learn from colleagues working in a diverse range of settings.

Our staff are highly professional, work hard and are appropriately rewarded for doing an excellent job.